Did anybody see Horizon last week?

[Barry]

The reason I ask is because a scientist was asked to look into claims for food and cleaning products and decide which, if any, could be said to be any good.
Anti-bacteria sprays for the kitchen, for example, got into the scientist's shopping basked, but those yogurts with supposedly good bacteria didn't. The former killed the bugs, while the latter had different results for different people.
"Super Foods", such as pomegranates and broccoli, whose anti-oxidants are supposed to track down free radicals and help prevent cancer, didn't make it into the shopping basket as super foods, but as good food (with no added benefit needed), because there was no proof they actually worked or are indeed needed. One person who barely ate two portions of fruit and veg a day actually had the same normal blood as others munching well into the five.
Interestingly, organic food didn't make it into the basket either. The reason? No proof could be put forward to substantiate health claims linked to eating organics.
30 degree washing powders did get the thumbs up too; they apparently work.
Fascinating stuff.

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Barry, the trouble is, in a few weeks time there will be another programme on saying the complete opposite, so who do we believe.

Don't believe any of them is my answer and just get on and enjoy life.

[Geoff]

I wondered when it would come up, another triumph for the pragmatists in an excellent programme! I was once given a Jehovahs Witness book that was written as a sort of debate, evidence on one hand from say Darwin countered by a quote from something like the Chicago Daily News. This was similar, a qualified nutritionist (incidentally the same one as used by the surprisingly excellent Rachel de Thame programme last autumn) versus a retired motor racing driver.

[Weed]

Barry

These types of programmes are so often contrived and have a hidden agenda.

A colleague of mine was asked to participate in a TV documentary programme a few years ago and walked off the set when he saw how the results were being set up and he was being asked, as an expert in his field, to endorse those results.

[vivienz]

I saw the programme in question and did think it was very interesting. Given that it was Horizon and the same professor who instigated the run on Boots anti-wrinkle cream last year, it will be interesting to see if it has the same effect on other shopping habits, though I doubt it. It's far easier to buy a pot of face cream than change eating habits.
I did think that the point about superfoods was very interesting - mainly that, although they contain high concentrations of certain nutrients, the body can actually only use so much and discards the rest, and the useable amount of trace nutrients is just as easily found in non-superfoods.
In many ways, even before this programme, I have thought that the organic/non-organic is misleading in terms of the nation's health and obesity issues. Surely the argument worth winning is the one that convinces the general population to eat more fruit and veg, regardless of whether it is organic or not. Once that one is won then it can be fine tuned, or simply left to consumers to decide whether it is important to them or not.
Good to have a programme that sparks a debate, though. The Food Programme on Radio 4 is often a good listen. Today's was about the lack of small farms and growers in the UK to supply outlets other than the big supermarkets. You can use the 'listen again' facility on their website if anyone is interested.
Anyhow, I've had a lovely weekend of lots of allotment hours, wandering around like a tramp in my dirty gear and annoying motorists in a queue of traffic when I overtook them on my pushbike!!

Happy allotmenteering everyone & tuck up nice and warm for that spell of cold weather tomorrow & Tuesday.

Best wishes,
Vivien